REVISTA DYNA MANAGEMENT

Key words:

gestión de la cadena de suministro, economía circular, sector cocotero, supply chain management, circular economy, coconut sector case study

Article type:

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / RESEARCH ARTICLE

Section:

RESEARCH ARTICLES

ABSTRACT:
Presently, achieving the circularity of supply chains is a major challenge. The difficulty consists of the assimilation by the actors in the supply chain and its own complexity. Therefore, this research focuses on the main differences among the three main variables (integration, circular economy, and the elements of the traditional supply chains) of a supply chain in the coconut sector in the province of Manabí, Ecuador. To achieve this, two hypotheses and their possible combinations are defined. The first hypothesis focuses into the existence of the differences among variables. The second one, is based on the possibility of a positive strong correlation among the variables. Hence, relationships between the three variables in the context of circularity are identified. The supply chain under study is formed by 160 actors, limited to the national sector. For the diagnosis of each of the variables, three check lists are used, which allow to compute a general value for each variable in each actor and in the supply chain. Results indicate that: (a) the supply chain of the coconut sector in the province of Manabí has a performance evaluated to be fair in terms of integration levels, circular economy and the definition of the supply chain; (b) actors dedicated to production and manufacturing show slightly superior performance compared to those dedicated to selling to the customer; (c) the actors maintain proportional and direct performances in the three variables. As a consequence of this study, strengths and opportunity areas of the coconut sector to accomplish an effective transition towards the circularity.
Key Words: supply chain management, circular economy, coconut sector case study